Constantine Maroulis stars as Dr. Henry Jekyll (and later the dangerous Mr. Hyde) in the tour of the musical "Jekyll & Hyde" now playing in Providence and headed to Broadway in the spring.

Review: Video advances enhance 'Jekyll & Hyde'

By Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll

kdriscoll@capecodonline.com

January 03, 2013 - 2:00 AM

PROVIDENCE — Video technology, for theater or otherwise, has changed enormously since the 1990s, when Frank Wildhorn's "Jekyll & Hyde" musical debuted, toured and finally hit Broadway for a nearly four-year run. How video wizardry can enhance a production is showcased in the new staging due to be a Broadway revival in the spring; the now-on-tour show puts on-screen background effects to terrific use to add chilling layers to this tragic horror story.

Only occasionally do the video effects take this Victorian melodrama, already ripe for potential bombast, over the top. But beyond star Constantine Maroulis' tour de force dual portrayal of the well-meaning, gentle Dr. Henry Jekyll and the coarse monster he turns into through his good vs. evil experiment, it will undoubtedly be the video additions that inspire the most debate among this musical's many diehard fans.

Circumstances have conspired to make me miss "Jekyll & Hyde" whenever it has been previously produced, but one aspect I had heard about was "Confrontation," a number that the lead actor has to perform as both Jekyll and Hyde as they argue with each other. In this version, Maroulis still has to vocally wrestle with himself, but the video enhancements take that moment to a different level. Whether how it's accomplished will please passionate purists is a toss-up, but for the uninitiated, the number proves to be a riveting climax (at least until the fire effects get to be too much).

Also a welcome surprise is Maroulis' many-layered star turn as the iconic dual-natured scientist seeking a cure for the insane. Anyone who saw the famously long-haired singer shine on Season 4 of TV's "American Idol" (the Carrie Underwood contest) back in 2005 knows he has long been able to handle the rock genre. Enough, in fact, that Maroulis was nominated for a Tony Award for creating the character of the fame-seeking Drew in 2009's "Rock of Ages" on Broadway.

But Maroulis first appears here as a mousy, tentative idealist, a bespectacled egghead who's about to marry his mentor's sweet daughter and is agog at the pleasures offered at his bachelor party. Maroulis uses a lovely high tenor for his earlier, wistful songs, then takes full control of the electric "This Is the Moment" as Jekyll decides to use himself to test his experiment. It is as the resulting evil Hyde that Maroulis' growling, shouting rocker side returns, though in Act 1 of Tuesday's opening night in Providence, the iffy sound system that muddied ensemble numbers also was a big factor in making Maroulis' early singing lines as Hyde almost unintelligible.

Powerful vocals are one of this production's clear strengths, and much of that is due to award-winning R&B singer Deborah Cox. She plays Lucy, the prostitute who falls for Jekyll as she yearns for a better life and then pleasures Hyde as he regularly visits in the night for a little S&M. Wildhorn's score is reminiscent of the "Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables" genre, clearly in a late-1980s, early-1990s music style that is nowhere more evident than in Lucy's songs. That a couple, like the show-stopping "A New Life," sound like classic Whitney Houston songs is not unexpected since Wildhorn wrote Houston's 1988 hit "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and Cox recorded a duet with her. Houston would have had to be in absolute top shape, though, to do a better job with these songs than Cox does, and Cox impresses while also creating a sympathetic tough-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold character.

Her performance is so strong that it overshadows how good Teal Wicks is as fiancée Emma, the somewhat thankless role of the supportive woman who insists on a wedding and that all will be fine even as Jekyll acts like a madman and disappears into his lab for days on end. Wicks fully holds her own in the dramatic duet "In His Eyes" with Cox as they sing of their love for Jekyll.

While this classic horror tale still raises questions about people wrestling for control between their good and evil sides, the story's sensationalist nature does threaten to take the musical into parody at various points. But the direction by Jeff Calhoun ("Newsies") embraces that potential campiness more than being threatened by it, and his playfulness is exemplified by the use of the video effects even when the actors aren't around. Billowing smoke wafts around the screen as the audience trickles in before the show, and during intermission, a giant shadow of the cloaked, top-hatted Hyde can be seen lurking now and then around the stage. It's a creepy, unexpected on-screen effect that adds a laugh, however uncomfortable, to a dark and sad tale.

Fact Box

ON STAGE

What: "Jekyll & Hyde"

Conceived for the stage by: Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, with book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, music by Frank Wildhorn and some lyrics by Cuden; all based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson